ADIF has awarded Dragados and Tecsa Empresa Constructora a €32·4m contract for Phase 1C of the €300m expansion of the Vicálvaro logistics terminal on the so-called rail motorway llinking Zaragoza with ports in Andalucía. Four through tracks to hold 740 m long trains are to be laid on the future intermodal terminal site, while a concrete apron will be provided for container storage and three Rikon gantry cranes installed.
Infracapital’s Inland Terminals Group has agreed to acquire 66·7% of Dutch inland port and rail terminal operator CTH from Bolk Container Transport and Nijhof-Wassink, giving it full ownership of the business which runs terminals in Hengelo, Almelo and Rotterdam. Infracapital said inland shipping and rail were resilient and growing, underpinned by strong political support for modal shift.
Parallel Systems has demonstrated platooning of its autonomous battery-electric wagons, using bumper-to-bumper contact with no coupler. The company envisages that platoons could eventually comprise up to 50 individually-powered wagons, improving aerodynamic efficiency and using network capacity more effectively.
Transport Canada and Railway Association of Canada have announced a renewed memorandum of understanding for collaboration to advance the use of low-carbon fuel, to move more goods and people by rail and to accelerate the development of advanced net-zero technology for locomotives. The signatories said the rail freight industry had improved its fuel efficiency by more than 25% since 2005, with an absolute reduction in air pollutants such as NOx (-47%), PM10 (-61%), CO (-8%), HC (-55%), and SO2 (-99%).
Russian wagon manufacturer RM Rail has delivered its first wagons equipped with a Digital Smart Wagon telematics system supplied by NPP RaTorm. This enables online monitoring of components to support condition-based maintenance. The Type 19-1273-02 hoppers will be used to carry mineral fertilisers and other bulk cargoes.
PSC Group has acquired the Bayport Rail Terminal in Texas from US Development Group. ‘BRT is a one-of-a-kind logistics asset strategically situated close to the Port of Houston and in the heart of the Houston chemical industry’, explained PSC CEO Joel Dickerson on January 9. ‘Access to these markets will enable PSC to expand our offering of critical last-mile logistics services to the more than 80 rail-served manufacturing and logistic facilities housed along the Bayport Loop and the Port of Houston.’ Wells Fargo Securities, acted as financial advisor to US Development Group.
On January 1 Jonas Tesch became Captrain’s Joint Managing Director of the Hansebahn Bremen joint venture between Captrain Deutschland (51%) and ArcelorMittal Bremen (49%). Replacing Eugen Brodowski who left at the end of June, he will work with ArcelorMittal’s representative Andreas Witte.
Uralvagonzavod’s Volchansk Mechanical Plant has delivered its first batch of 12 Type 23-592-03 wagons developed by the Ural Wagon Building Design Bureau. The 65·5 tonne capacity wagons are designed to carry long round products with diameters from 300 to 600 mm and lengths from 4 m to 12 m, and will operate on private lines.
